The Goal
The initial goal was to raise enough money to provide 30 people with clean water (that’s $600) in the 30 days before my 30th birthday. If we did it, I offered to shave my head. We reached the goal in a mere six days. I’ll shave my head on June 13.

Now we’ve upped the goal to $5,000—the cost to build a well in Ethiopia. An audacious goal, yes, but a worthy cause. It’s the Bald Birthday Benefit 2009. Please consider donating.

Update: Time to up the ante. If we hit $5,000, in addition to shaving my head, my beard, my goatee, my soul patch and my mustache, I’ll shave my legs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did you come up with this crazy idea?In 2008 I went bald for adoption. I challenged friends and family that if they could raise $2,000 I’d shave my head. On June 14, 2008 I was bald.

Fast-forward 11 months without a haircut and I’m starting to look like a hippie again (or maybe early 1980s Bono?). But rather than actually pay money for some stylish haircut, I thought it was time to go bald again. I like the idea of forsaking fashion in the name of charity. It might just be a new tradition.

Isn’t $600 kind of a lame goal compared to last year’s $2,000?Maybe. But last year was a much more personal plea. It also helped that I mailed nearly 250 letters to friends and family asking for donations. I won’t be doing that this year.

But hey, make me look dumb and let’s shatter that $600 goal. I’ll happily set a new goal (a well in Ethiopia costs $5,000). Of course baldness will still happen when we break $600, regardless of any new goal. OK, you made me look dumb and we hit the goal in six days. The new goal is $5,000. Who’s dumb now? (don’t answer that)

Why don’t you just ask for a book or a DVD like everyone else does for their birthday?
Because I don’t need that stuff. Every year for my birthday my family usually gives me wads of cash and I spend the next month and half deliberating over how to spend it. Occasionally I have a big purchase in mind (like last year’s camera!), but usually it gets frittered away on books I don’t read, DVDs I could get from the library or snacks at Barnes & Noble while reading magazines. Nothing wrong with any of that, but I’d rather do something more important for my birthday.

Is my donation tax deductible?
Yes. You’ll get an e-mailed receipt from PayPal. Print this out and keep it for your tax records.

Can I donate offline?
Yes. Checks can be made payable to Charity Global. Put “charity: water” in the memo line. You can send your donations to:

Charity Global, Inc.
150 Varick St., 5th floor
New York, NY 10013

If you decide to donate this way, please send me an e-mail letting me know how much you donated so I can add it to our goal. If you don’t let me know, your donation won’t count towards the goal (and my impending baldness). You could also just sent your donation straight to me and I’ll pass it along to charity: water (this isn’t tax deductible, but it is easily added towards the goal).

Are you shaving [fill in the blank]?
I’ll be shaving my head down to the stubble (i.e., I’m not using a razor—the wife isn’t thrilled with this plan in the first place and she hated the ‘velcro’ feel of my freshly razored head), eyebrows not included. The facial hair is honestly a tossup at this point. Maybe we’ll make the facial hair a bonus. If we raise more than $600 I’ll start shaving the facial hair:

$700: Beard.

$800: Goatee.

$900: Soul patch.

$1,000: Mustache.

$10,000: Eyebrows. (Just kidding. Sort of.)

Update: We already passed $1,000, so the facial hair will be shaved June 13. The new carrot is shaving my legs if we hit $5,000.

A work-at-home dad wrestles with faith, social justice & story.

The personal site of Kevin D. Hendricks: Sharing ideas I can’t get out of my head, including causes, local politics, and lots of books. Since 1998. Kevin is a writer and editor with his company, Monkey Outta Nowhere, in St. Paul, Minn.